Re: Pumping in the middle of the night.

W just turned 4 months. The dr told us we could start solids if we wanted to but not to feel it was a necessity till closer to 6 months. They suggested an Iron fortified rice cereal, we have not decided what we are going to start with yet.

The cereal is a personal choice if it is working for you then ok, but starting it this early may have an effect on your supply. But I would also try spoon feeding it again. Just 1 spoon full mixed with BM till about a ketchup consistency is a good place to start. It will take her a few tries before she figures out how to actually get it to the back of her throat and swallow rather than just spitting it out. Solids are for learning and for fun before 1 year so don't stress to much about it, the main source of her nutrition for the 1st year should come from your milk.

To eliminate the night pumping I would pump right before bed. For me that is 10-1030ish. I am lucky and work where I can pump 3-4 times at work but still pump before bed to make sure that we have enough. W nurses much more often that your LO and adding a nursing session may also help your supply and pumping output. Here is what W day's are like.

His schedule is something like this.
630 wake and nurse till about 7 (some days he will wake as early as 545 those days we nurse twice in the morning)
730 get dropped at daycare
Most days he eats 3 4oz bottles (some days 2 and some days 4)
500 picked up
530 home and nurse
630 nurse
700 bedtime routine starts
730 nurse
800 bed
He wakes 1-2 times a night and nurses.

Re: Pumping in the middle of the night.

From my own personal pumping experience I would NOT take out your night time pumping session. I know I got up 2 to 3 times a night for 2 1/2 years to pump so I know what it is like. With DD2 I learned a few things, as I also had to pump for only 6 months for her! Thank goodness! lol Unlike the 2 1/2 years I had to pump for dd1. (I got DD2 exclusively to breast at 6 months). Night time pumping when you are relying on pumping is much different then exclusively nursing. The night time pumping or nursing will have a direct effect on your day time output. It will more then likely cause you to not even be able to get the 6 oz you get now during the day. There is hormones at night when you pump/nurse that effect your day time output. I just wouldn't risk it.

What I would do is what I did with DD2. Get a cooler, get refreezable ice packs. Set up a pumping station directly beside your bed. I had a chair, a place for my pump, and a timer, along with the cooler with the frozen ice packs in it before I went to bed. Then I would wake up (my body naturally woke up at the times after a while I didn't need the alarm clock! lol), I would roll out of bed into my chair, hook myself up to the pump (which I would set up before bed, attaching the horns, and bottles etc, so all I had to do was attach to myself and turn on pump), start pumping set my timer, and go back to sleep sitting up pumping in the chair. When the timer went off it would wake me up. I would put the caps on the bottles, put the horns, and bottles in the cooler, and get back in bed. This was a lot lot less interupting then getting up going to the kitchen to put this stuff in the fridge, and all the stuff I did with DD1! It really barely interupted me at all. And worked great.

Re: Pumping in the middle of the night.

I'm very grateful for everyone's responses. I am going to just suck it up and keep waking up to pump. I would like to BF as long as possible (my original goal was the end of the year (4 months old), then I moved it to 6 months (will be in Feb) and now I'm hoping to do it as long as I can.

Also, every time I post that my baby girl eats 6 oz bottles everyone always says "that's too much." Wouldn't my doctor tell me that she was getting too much if he thought that was the case? I told him what everyone's response usually is and he gave me a great example...he said, "think about a car and a tank of gas. If you fill your car up with just a gallon or 2, that doesn't get you very far and you have to get more gas quickly. But if you fill it up completely, you can drive for a long time." He said my baby was a perfect example of eating a lot and being able to last longer. People preach about every baby being different, but then when someone says their baby does something that yours doesn't (i.e.- eat 6 oz bottles) people freak out and say it's wrong.

I'm going to keep pumping at 1am, because I do NOT want to risk my supply dropping!!

Re: Pumping in the middle of the night.

The only thing I would say about your bottle amount is to try to decrease it to say 5.75 oz one day. If he makes it the same amount of time in between bottles, good. If not, then increase it back up. No harm in trialing a lower amount one day. Though I would do this on a Friday just in case it does make him fussier at night.

Also, way to be dedicated. You are making sacrifices so you can do what's best for you baby. I have been hitting walls recently and just keep setting small milestones for myself. For example, just make it through winter since I know it will keep her healthier. Then, once winter is over, I'll only be 3 months away from 1 year. It sounds much more manageable this way then saying 6 more months to go.

~DD born 6/7/11
Successfully and while at work for 1 year. Now we are still till who knows...

Re: Pumping in the middle of the night.

The reason everyone says that about 6 ounces is because in a lot of our experiences here that is a ton of milk for a breastfed baby at once. Every baby is different, that is true, but it can be hard for a mom to pump for 6 ounce bottles. But, if it's working for you, that's all that matters.

Re: Pumping in the middle of the night.

If she can handle that much (6 oz) in a feeding then I guess that is fine, my daughter never took more than 4 oz in a bottle but has always been more of small meal kind of person anyway and spit up very easily. I would nurse more often as has already been suggested. I know teaching is a hard profession to keep your supply up but good for you for keeping up with her needs! That is great!

Re: Pumping in the middle of the night.

My mom is with her today so I asked her to drop it down to 5.5oz this morning. We'll see if she lasts until the next feeding. Even half an ounce less each time will help me keep up!

Thats the best way to do it. She may or may not take the smaller bottles. W gets what he wants as we nurse on demand when we are together. My DCP will give him more/less if that is what he wants in that feeding. My DCP is also very knowledgeable about BF babies as he has 3 of his own he has been home with from day 1.

If you are still a little worried about your supply still with the middle of the night pump consider one right before bed also, most moms have more milk in the late night and early morning.